A number of supplemental agreements were rejected in New England, Philadelphia, Upstate NY, Western PA, Northern California, and the Southern Road and Mechanics Supplements. Now it will be up to the Hoffa administration to re-negotiate and fix those supplements, and then re-vote them.

There was a lot of dissatisfaction with the proposed contract but most members felt that Hoffa and Freight Director Ernie Soehl had no plan to deliver more.

The Hoffa administration used the threat of a strike – not to pressure the company, but to scare members. They repeatedly stated that a rejection of the first-offer would not lead to more bargaining, but an immediate (and ill-prepared) strike.

The anti-concession mood and rank and file networking did pressure the company and Hoffa administration to restore the vacation week given up in 2013. But the wage increases of less than 2% per year will not keep up with inflation. And for a minority of members in some eastern pension plans, this deal could possibly cause them to be put out of their pension plans. Shame on Hoffa for this breakdown of Teamster solidarity. Those supplemental agreements were rejected. We demand the Hoffa administration do right by these ABF Brothers and Sisters.

The ABF Contract is not ratified until all supplements have been ratified; therefore, this agreement is not final.

This ABF contract sends a clear message to all Teamsters. We can’t rely on Hoffa and his buddies to win what we need. ABF Teamsters began to network and build an opposition to givebacks. We need to do more of that as we prepare for the UPS and UPS Freight contracts. And we need to continue to build on those efforts in the freight industry as we prepare for 2019 and the YRC contract.

Only a new leadership – the Teamsters United team – can build Teamster power in our core industries and unite our members to win good contracts. That’s what we’re about.